It was another poor outing for Team Nigeria yesterday at the on-going 2019 IAAF Championships in Doha, as two U.S.-based female athletes, Oyesade Olatoye and Chioma Onyekwere, failed to progress in their respective events.
Olatoye was reduced to a mere spectator in the shot put event, while Onyekwere narrowly missed out in discuss yesterday.
On Tuesday, the duo of Patience Okon George and Favour Ofili failed to make it to the final in the women’s 400m events. Their failure came barely 24 hours after the duo of Blessing Okagbare and Divine Oduduru faltered in the 200m events.
After Tuesday’s disappointments, Nigerians shifted attention to Oyesade and Onyekwere yesterday, hoping that something good might come either in the shot put or discuss event.
It turned out to be another disappointing day for the country, as Oyesade finished in a distant 26th position overall in the shot put event with a poor throw of 16.97meters, her only successful attempt in the event. She faulted in her second and third attempts.
Though, Oyesade was not expected to win the event, but many were looking forward to seeing her improve on her personal best record of 17.88m, which she achieved earlier this year.
Her 16.97meters throw was far behind the 19.32 by Daniel Thomas-Dodo of Jamaica, as well as the 18.85 recorded by Michelle Carter of U.S. in Group A. Maggie Ewen of USA topped Group B with a throw of 19.21 meters.
Chioma Onyekwere threw a personal best mark of 61.38 to finish 13th overall in the discuss event, but missed the qualification ticket.
Like Oyesade’s double fault in the shot put, Onyekwere also faulted in her second and third attempts in the discuss event yesterday.
The duo had won a gold medal each for Team Nigeria a few weeks ago at the Africa Games in Rabat, Morocco.
Focus is now on Chukwuebuka Enekwechi later today, as he competes in the men’s shot put event. Unless a miracle happens, Enekwechi, who holds a personal best record of 21.80, may follow the path of other Nigerians in the championship. He may require extra efforts to outwit the likes of Darrell Hill of the United States, who holds a personal best of 22.44 in shot put.
Team U.S. currently tops the medals table with seven gold yesterday, with China, Jamaica and Kenya following with two gold medals each.
